A few weeks ago news app Flipboard dropped a major update to its iOS users. Flipboard 2.0 brought several enhancements, but the biggest one was the addition of user curated Magazines. Today that update finally comes to Android as well. Flipboard 2.0 just hit the Google Play Store, so now Android owners can start reading and creating magazines of their own.
In addition to magazines, 2.0 comes with an improved search function that not only grabs from feed titles but feed content as well. It’s now much easier to find what you’re looking for and add it to your Flipboard or just flip through it to find the individual posts and articles you want to read. Each individual section will also get something similar to a table of contents that breaks down the sources or sections for easier navigation.
There’s more emphasis on discovery in this version, and Flipboard is pushing the magazines created by users in the By Our Readers section. Here you’ll find magazines sorted by topic, and the topics change and shift around so you won’t always see the same ones. Magazines work just like any other section in Flipboard; the only difference is that, as you flip, you’ll see small discovery sections pointing to similar magazines.
Creating and curating your own magazine is as simple on Android as it is on iOS. A new + button now appears on each content item. Tap it to add to an existing magazine or create a new one. Apple owners already have a head start on these, though there are several Android-focused magazines highlighted in the Android Experts area (full disclosure: one of them is mine). Curators can “flip” an article into their own magazines from anywhere, including other magazines and on the Web via a bookmarklet or extension. Flipboard will keep track of sources and credit appropriately.
Alongside the launch of 2.0 on Android, Flipboard also launched a magazine editor, giving creators more control of the order posts go in, which was missing before. It’s also possible to share to Facebook, twitter, and email from this interface.
You can download Flipboard 2.0 here.
